


Nights With You

by nothingwithoutyouxo



Category: Spring Awakening - Sheik/Sater
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, One Shot, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2017-06-28
Packaged: 2018-11-20 02:18:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11326602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nothingwithoutyouxo/pseuds/nothingwithoutyouxo
Summary: Out of all the horrible things that Moritz thought would happen that night, being stood up somehow wasn’t one of them.Or, that time Bobby Maler stood Moritz up and the story of what Melchior did about it.





	Nights With You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [goldengalaxyboy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldengalaxyboy/gifts).



> I have never in my life written a fic for this fandom and yet here we are. This is mostly for my friend Wyatt, who I'm sure will appreciate at least some of it (also I borrowed one of our headcannons for this oops). When I say tooth-rotting fluff I mean this the softest, sweetest thing I have probably ever written so you have that to look forward to. I just want them all to be happy.  
> Oh, and there's like minimal spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy 2 in this because they watch it??? You've been warned, I guess.

Out of all the horrible things that Moritz thought would happen that night, being stood up somehow wasn’t one of them. Really he should have known, or expected it since he was sure that no one in their right mind would want to date him anyway, but it still hurt. As he stood in the thinning lobby, watching couples and groups of friends grab their popcorn and head on into their film he couldn’t help but feel upset and jealous. He really thought that it would be good this time, and yet here he was, alone and trying his best to avoid the eyes of the workers that absolutely knew what was happening right now. He didn’t want their pity. Moritz decided then and there that he really needed to swear off dating this time. He really didn’t want this to happen again. Moritz was just about to leave, make some weird walk of shame out of the theatre by himself when Melchior approached him. Most of the time he forgot that Melchior worked here, and tonight he really wished that he didn’t. Then he could have lied to his friends the next day and told them all the date was great but they won’t be seeing each other again. He couldn’t lie to them now. 

 

“Moritz, I’m sorry,” Melchior said, and he did look sorry. Moritz wasn’t sure if he wanted to be angry at him or not, but he never seemed able to.

 

“You don’t have to be sorry,” he shrugged, shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and hoped he looked casual and beyond ok with the situation. 

 

“I know, but you just …” Melchior paused, he looked between Moritz and the door. “I don’t want you to feel what you’re feeling right now.”

 

Moritz shouldn’t have been as struck by that as he was. Melchior was always like this. He always wanted the best for all of them. He always wanted everyone to be ok. Moritz wasn’t sure if he’d ever been ok, but maybe he could pretend he was, for Melchior’s sake. “It’s ok,” he muttered, shrugging again. “Really.”

 

Melchior didn’t look convinced. He looked down, fiddling with the sleeves of his uniform before speaking again. “He didn’t deserve you anyway, Moritz.”

 

Yeah, Melchior was always like this. He was always nice, and kind, and that’s why Moritz had such strong feel - that’s why they were such good friends. Moritz wasn’t quite sure what to say to that so he didn’t say anything. He just shrugged again instead and for some reason that made Melchior smile. “Shouldn’t you be getting back to work?” he asked. 

 

Melchior looked behind him, making eye contact with a co-worker who smirked at him, before turning back to Moritz. “My shift’s over in, like, five minutes. Let me makes this up to and take you to a movie or something.”

 

All that Moritz really know was that Melchior had nothing to make up for and that his heart was beating really heavily in his chest. Somehow he found himself nodding. “Ok,” he said. 

 

Melchior beamed at that. He looked around himself wildly, catching the eye of the same co-worker who seemed even more smug this time. “Ok, just, stay here and I’ll be back in five minutes.”

 

“Not like I have anywhere else to go.”

 

“Moritz, I’m sorry -”

 

“Hey,” he smirked, “I was joking.”

 

Melchior laughed, before quickly apologising and heading back to work. Moritz tried his best not to watch him but he’d always had trouble with that. He’d always been drawn to Melchior and he was sure it wasn’t a good thing, but he really didn’t want to focus on that now. When Melchior came back with a leather jacket thrown on over his uniform and his glasses on Moritz was sure that he might have just ascended to another plane of existence. 

 

“Ok, so there’s not really a lot of movies out or anything, or at least not a lot of good ones so I guess we can just go with whatever franchise you feel the strongest alignment to,” he was saying as he stopped in front of Moritz.

 

Moritz quickly checked the time on his phone. “Haven’t we missed them?” he asked.

  
Melchior shook his head, smiling softly. “We always have half an hour of advertising to get through. It’s annoying but it keeps this place open.”

 

“So we’re good then?”

 

He nodded. 

 

Moritz couldn’t for the life of him think of a single movie that was out. He couldn’t even remember the last time he saw a trailer for anything. “Um,” he muttered.

 

“I guess, what it comes down to is Marvel, DC or Transformers,” Melchior added.

 

“Transformers? Who the fuck do you think I am?”

 

“Sorry I asked,” he laughed. 

 

Moritz thought for a moment. He was honestly the worst when it came to decisions but he appreciated that Melchior was letting him pick the movie. “What’s the Marvel one? Is It Spider-Man?”

 

“I wish. It’s Guardians of the Galaxy 2.”

 

He nodded. “The first one was good,” he said.

 

“Go with that one?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Alright. That’s Cinema 6. Let’s go.”

 

Moritz hesitated. He gazed around the now empty room for a moment. “Don’t we need to like buy -”

 

“Tickets? Don’t worry. I’ll handle it. Oh! Did you want popcorn? I can get you some of that too.”

 

He just really didn’t know what to say. Why was Melchior paying for everything? “Are you sure?” he asked.

 

Melchior just nodded and him, then pointed in the direction of the cinema. “You ready?” 

 

“Yeah. I’m fine without popcorn,” he added. 

 

“Alright. If you want any later just let me know.”

 

Moritz still wasn’t entirely sure if any of this was  _ real  _ but he stayed in step next to Melchior as they walked into the cinema. It was fairly empty for this time of the day but maybe that was because this movie had been out for a while already. Whatever the reason, Moritz was somehow really glad for it. The ads were still running as they took their seats. There was still soft conversations happening around them. It smelled like popcorn and Moritz instantly regretted not buying any. 

 

“I’m going to ask you who your favourite character is and if you don’t say Baby Groot I might walk out right now,” Melchior teased. Even in the fading lights, Moritz could see him smiling. 

 

“Baby Groot is everyone’s favourite character by default,” he answered. 

 

“Good.”

 

Moritz paused for a moment. He wasn’t quite sure what to say. Sure, he and Melchior had been friends for a while but they didn’t really  _ talk  _ all that much. At least, not like the small talk they seemed to be handling now. “Who’s your favourite character?” he asked.

 

“Oh? Rocket Raccoon, hands down.”

 

Moritz shook his head at that, smiling. “I’m sorry I think I need to shove all these breadsticks into my pockets and leave,” he joked.

 

“Moritz, that meme is like a year old.”

 

“It’s a true classic. What’s your point?”

 

He couldn’t help but laugh at that. The curtains drew back against the screen in front of them. The Marvel logo started to play out. Moritz was almost sad because that meant that he couldn’t really talk to Melchior anymore without probably causing some kind of disturbance and he really did like how that was going. It wasn’t the most comfortable position for him to be in, since Moritz was never really a big fan of the dark.

 

“They really upgraded the logo, didn’t they?” Melchior asked, lowering his voice.

 

_ Please don’t stop talking _ . “I can’t decide if I like it better or if it’s just showing off.”

 

“Maybe a bit of both.”

 

***

 

For the most part, the movie was turning out quite well. The colours were amazing, the acting was fantastic and the script was great. It had all the warmth and comedy of the first one and then some. There was just one problem … rouge space pirates were tormenting Groot … and Moritz was going to be sick. He closed his eyes but he could still  _ hear  _ it and it was  _ horrible _ . He wasn’t sure when he’d gone entirely stiff but Melchior must have noticed because Moritz felt him lean closer and rest a hand on Moritz’s arm. 

 

“Let’s get out of here,” Melchior whispered. 

 

Moritz didn’t need to be told twice. The next few minutes was the two of the scrambling from the cinema and Moritz trying his best to force the sound of that scene out of his head, and the memories associated with it. 

 

“Moritz, I’m so sorry. I should have checked for trigger warnings. I didn’t even think -” Melchior was saying. 

 

Moritz shook his head to cut him off. They’d stopped just outside the cinema, far enough away that the sound from the film was drowned out by the heavy doors. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed but there was more people around now. “You let me leave,” he said. “Bobby wouldn’t have done that.”

 

Melchior wasn’t entirely sure what to say to that but he nodded anyway. There was a lot of things that Bobby wouldn’t have done, and for that Melchior was kind of glad that he stood Moritz up. “Let me make it up to you. I’ll buy you a coffee?”

 

“A coffee?” Moritz asked. He was pretty sure that there was  _ still  _ nothing that Melchior needed to make up for. It wasn’t Melchior’s fault that Moritz had been stood up, or that the movie was violent. Nothing had ever really been Melchior’s fault.

 

“Or another drink?” he amended, “Pick whatever one you want, really it’s fine.”

 

“Melchior, you’re as broke as I am.”

 

Melchior smiled at that. “I got paid today. It’s a long black right”?”

 

“How do you know my coffee order?”

 

“Just a guess.”

 

***

 

If you asked Moritz to name a single coffee shop that wasn’t somehow part of a chain then he’d have absolutely no idea what answer to give you. Martha worked at a Starbucks and that’s about as far as his coffee knowledge went. Melchior seemed to know more than he did. There was a coffee shop two blocks away from the cinema that was tucked down an alleyway and almost entirely quiet. It was tiny, about half the size of Martha’s starbucks, and the furniture was a little haphazard but there were fairy lights strung up and Moritz automatically felt a kind of warmth. The walls were lined with books and he was going to make a joke about just how pretentious it all was if it wasn’t for the smile on Melchior’s face. 

 

“I know what you’re thinking,” Melchior smirked over at him, “and yes it’s pretentious as hell but the coffee’s good I promise.”

 

“I trust you,” Moritz replied. He didn’t even need to think about it. It was almost an automatic answer. He could tell that somehow it seemed to touch Melchior. His smile turned soft and his eyes turned misty momentarily, but he seemed to recover well enough. 

 

“Long black,” he said. “Got it. You can grab any table you want, I don’t mind.”

 

Moritz went and sat at the table furthest from the counter. It was tucked away in the corner, which always helped him feel safe, and it was next to a bookcase that he knew Melchior would appreciate. When Melchior returned, Moritz was gazing up at the fairy lights above him and Melchior has to avoid thinking about how  _ adorable  _ he looked. That wasn’t the point of this. 

 

“Somehow I knew you’d go for the corner table,” he said, sitting across from Moritz.

 

Moritz looked over at him as if he’d been pulled from a dream and Melchior almost regretted speaking. “I like the fairy lights,” he said. 

 

“I think they help create a nice atmosphere. They’re … soft.”

 

“Exactly.”

 

A silence fell between the two of them. Moritz resumed looking around the coffee shop absently and Melchior found himself content just to watch him. He wasn’t sure when Moritz became some kind of person of interest for him, but he’d never been more grateful that he worked Saturdays. It wasn’t always the best thing in his life. Sometimes some of his friends made plans that he couldn’t seem to get the time off for, but if he hadn’t worked that night he wouldn’t be where he was now, sitting across from Moritz in his favourite coffee shop while Moritz skimmed the spine of a copy of  _ Frankenstein  _ with his fingers. 

 

“You’re allowed to read them,” he said. “They’re not just there for show.”

 

“I don’t really read,” Moritz replied, dropping his hands onto the table and looking over at Melchior. “Don’t have the focus and I lose track of the story all the time,” he explained. 

 

A waitress popped over, carefully placing their drinks onto the table and asking them if they needed anything else. Melchior was trying to figure out if she was smiling or smirking as she walked away when a thought suddenly occurred to him.

 

“I could read to you,” he said.

 

Moritz looked confused more than anything else.

 

“The books, I mean. If you find one that you’re interested in, I could read it to you then you don’t have to worry about you focus. And if you start to lose track of the story we can go over it.”

 

Since Moritz was practically already holding the copy of  _ Frankenstein  _ he pulled it out and laid it on the table in front of him. The cover was leather, the title and author embossed into it. “You like Mary Shelley, right?” he asked, because if they were doing this he wasn’t going to make Melchior read some random story that he’d barely heard of (though he doubted that was possible). 

 

“Yeah. She’s the mother of sci-fi, and it’s not as well known but she’s also the mother of the post apocalyptic genre,” he replied, watching Moritz drag his fingers over each letter on the cover.

 

“Did she lose her virginity in a graveyard or something?”

 

“On her mother’s grave. Or, at least, that’s what everyone thinks.”

 

Moritz grimaced at that, it was practically the equivalent of having your parents watch. He slowly placed the book back onto the shelf and tried to find something. They all seemed to be classics and he really wasn’t interested in that at all. 

 

“There’s a copy of Harry Potter behind me do you want me to grab that?” Melchior asked. 

 

Moritz had no idea how he did it, but somehow Melchior seemed to know exactly what he’d been thinking, even if he’d barely been thinking it. He nodded. 

 

Melchior leaned behind him, snatched up a copy of  _ Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone _ and placed it on the table in front of him. “20th Anniversary covers,” he said, smiling. “They’re nice aren’t they?”

 

“They’re beautiful.”

 

“I picked up the Slytherin one but if you want me to switch -”

 

“Melchi, your house loyalty is important don’t worry,” he teased.

 

“The real question is can you remember the first line of Harry Potter,” he smirked. 

 

Moritz froze for a moment. He knew this. He’d read those books. He’d heard Georg quote those books at every possible opportunity. It was somewhere in his brain, he just had to find it. “Um,” he muttered, as Melchior cracked open the book, gently easing the spine onto the table. “Mr and Mrs Dursley, dammit I know this.”

 

“Take your time. I mean, we won’t be able to finish the whole book here anyway.”

 

“Where did they live, Melchi? It was Privet Drive, right?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Mr and Mrs Durley of number - I want to say number four - of number four Privet Drive were normal. No wait they were proud of being normal.”

 

Melchior watched as Moritz tried to piece together the sentence in his head. He was running his hands through his hair, grasping at the ends which was making it stick up even more than usual. Maybe he shouldn’t have been as fond of that as he was.

 

“I’ve got it! Mr and Mrs Dursley of number four Privet drive were proud to say that they were perfectly normal,  _ thank you very much. _ ”

 

Melchior couldn’t help but beam at him. “You got it,” he said.

 

“I have a memory. I remember things.”

 

“Yeah? When’s my birthday?” he teased.

 

“Don’t push your luck, Gabor.”

 

***

 

Moritz didn’t realise just how cold it would be once they left the coffee shop. He knew that he was a little jittery from the caffeine (and he probably wouldn’t sleep again tonight, oops), but he was also shaking from the cold. He really should have brought a jacket with him, but it wasn’t something he’d thought about at the time. He thought he’d just be in the cinema the whole time and that he wouldn’t really be out this late. It was nearing midnight as he walked next to Melchior on the way back to his apartment. He wasn’t entirely sure why Melchior was walking with him, since he lived on the other side of town to where he did but he didn’t really want Melchior to leave.    
  
“Are you cold?” Melchior asked, looking over at Moritz who’d just started to shiver a little. He didn’t even wait for Moritz to answer before shrugging his jacket off and handing it to him. 

 

Moritz stared over at him for a moment, mostly just shocked. He had to add this to his mental list of ‘thing Bobby wouldn’t have done if he hadn’t stood me up’. “Thanks,” he muttered, and took the jacket. It was warm and smelt like Melchior and he was far too embarrassed to admit that he knew that. “Won’t you get cold?”

 

“I’ll be fine,” he shrugged, shoving his hands into the pockets of his dark jeans. “I’m not that cold, don’t worry.”

 

“It’s practically cold enough to snow.”

  
“It’s fine, Moritz, don’t worry.”

 

They didn’t talk too much from there. Mostly it was just about Harry Potter, since that seemed to be the focus of the last few hours. It had been years since Moritz had been able to read the books and he was surprised at how much he managed to remember. As they approached the apartment building where Moritz shared with Martha and Ilse he found himself unwilling for the night to end. 

 

“Melchi, serious question,” he muttered, staring down at the ground and not looking up at him.

 

“Sure.”

 

“Was this … a date?” he asked.

 

Melchior smiled and wished that Moritz was looking at him so he could see his eyes. “Do you want it to be?”

 

“I, um, it’s up to you,” he shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s just that you walked me home and everything and it feels like you’re going to try and kiss me goodnight - or something.”

 

He wasn’t entirely sure what to say to that. Maybe it was something that had crossed his mind. 

 

“Oh, your jacket,” Moritz said, remembering it again. 

 

“Moritz, you can keep it. It looks better on you.”

 

He shook his head, shrugging out of the jacket. “I highly doubt that.”

 

“What are you doing next Saturday?”

 

“It’s Martha’s birthday party thing,” Moritz reminded.

 

“Oh shit, you’re right. I have to switch my shift so I can go to that.”

 

Moritz hesitated, shuffled his feet and held out Melchior’s jacket. “Why?” he asked.

 

“I was, uh, thinking -”

 

There was a small crash and the two of them looked over to seeing Ilse standing next to a broken pot plant. “Sorry,” she said. “Forgot my key again.”

 

“Do you think if we just replace that with another plant the landlord would notice?” Moritz smirked.

 

“Probably not. Maybe we should keep the spare key somewhere else.”

 

“Maybe,” he agreed. 

 

Ilse smiled, eyes flicking between the two of them. “Well, you two go back to … whatever it is you’re doing,” she shrugged, quickly making for the door. Melchior caught her wink at him before she closed it behind her. 

 

“What were you thinking?” Moritz asked.

 

“Huh?”

 

“You said you were thinking but then,” he indicated the plant.

 

“Oh right. I, um, was thinking that, if you wanted to, we could do this again,” he muttered, shrugging and trying to make it seem as casual as possible.

 

Moritz wondered why Melchior never seemed  _ nervous  _ because that was absolutely how he was feeling. “Like, just the two of us? Again?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Oh, um. Yeah,” Moritz muttered. “Yeah, that would be - yeah.”

 

“I thought that we could do this for a while, or something. Then maybe, when you wanted to kiss me. I mean if, if you wanted to kiss me, then you can decide when you want that to happen.”

 

This was probably the only time in their entire friendship that Moritz had seen Melchior struggle with words. They were usually his  _ thing _ . “Thank you,” he said. “You’re coming to Martha’s party right?”

 

“Yeah, of course. It’s Martha,” he smiled.

 

“I’ll see you then, I guess.”

 

“Yeah. See you then.”

 

Moritz wasn’t entirely sure what he was feeling as he shoved his key into the door and stepped inside the building. Ilse was waiting for him on the other side, smirking something wicked. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to talk about what just happened, he was still processing it himself. 

 

“You know, when you said you were going on a date with Bobby Maler I was surprised, but you can imagine that I’m even more surprised by the fact that you came home with a different boy,” she said, walking next to him as they made their way up the stairs to their apartment. 

 

“How was your shift?” he asked, not really sure how to answer her. 

 

“Boring as always. Now, was the Bobby Maler thing a ruse to hide the fact that you were going on a date with Melchi, or were you actually supposed to go on a date with Bobby Maler? Or Did you leave the date for Melchi because I’m not sure if I could blame you for that if I’m being quite honest.”

 

“No. Yes. No,” he answered. “In that order.”

 

“Ok, yeah you need to tell me everything,” Ilse beamed at him. She opened the door with enough force that she almost broke it down before calling for Martha. “Martha! Your son went you a date!” she called. 

 

“Which one?” Martha asked, appearing from her bedroom and looking between the two of them. “Yeah, I know he was on a date. How’d it go, Moritz?”

 

“Um-”

 

“He gave him his jacket!”

 

Both of the girls seemed to melt at that. Moritz wasn’t sure what to do. “He didn’t show up,” he said. “Bobby, I mean.”

 

“Then how did he give you his jacket?” Martha asked, obviously confused. 

 

“He didn’t. Melchi did.”

 

The way Martha lit up at that was something Moritz had never seen. She looked like she’d just come completely alive. “Melchi?” she asked. 

 

“Bobby stood me up. Melchi was at work so he noticed and offered to see a movie with me instead. The movie wasn’t good so we went for coffee. It was - it was nice,” he shrugged.

 

“Moritz, that’s adorable,” she smiled. 

 

“I don’t know if it was really a date but -”

 

“It was a date.”

 

“There might be … another date,” he muttered.

 

Ilse pulled him into a hug. She was practically bouncing with excitement. Moritz wasn’t entirely sure, but as the night seemed to settle in his brain, the excitement seemed to be a little contagious. “Damn, this means if he hurts you then I have to fight him. I don’t really want to hurt Melchi, it’s Melchi” she said as she pulled away. 

 

“Maybe exceptions can be made,” Martha mused, pulling Moritz into a hug as well. Moritz wasn’t quite sure what to do with all the attention.

 

“Depends on the circumstances.”

  
“Can we maybe, try not to pretend that this is doomed before it even starts,” he cut in. 

 

The two girls looked at each, then nodded. 

 

“Moritz, you deserve this,” Ilse said.

 

“Happiness,” Martha confirmed. “You deserve happiness.”

 

For a moment, Moritz wasn’t sure what to say. Happiness never seemed at word that fit well with him, but the more he thought about it, the more he realised something. “Happiness is the word for it.”

**Author's Note:**

> For reference (since I looked it up and it's only a thing in Australia and NZ) a long black is basically just two shots of espresso mixed together for max caffeine which I why I feel it would be Moritz's go to coffee for any situation.  
> Oh, and the title is a song by MØ because I'm unoriginal and couldn't think of anything else in my excited rush to post this.  
> That is all. I hope you liked it :)


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